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Sumahan on the Water

Sumahan is a rare Bosporus-front property that has remained in the hands of the original family. Turkish-American owner-architects Nedret and Mark Butler have transformed and unlikely family heirloom - a derelict late Ottoman alcohol factory - into special retreat. Every room offers Bosphorus views of fishermen, ferryboats, and ships gliding through the night. It's a view of myth and of history. Located up the Bosphorus on the Asian side, Sumahan is just outside Çengelköy, a part of the city that still preserves its air of an authentic Bosphorus neighborhood. It is a village of wooden houses, fish restaurants, and seaside promenades surrounded by nearby Bosphorus-front mansions of former sultans, vezirs, and socialites. A motorized launch ferries hotel guests to and from downtown.